(Agence France-Presse Doha 5th) The World Judo Championships in Doha on the 7th will be the first major international competition to welcome the return of athletes from Russia and Belarus. Russia and Belarus have been excluded from most sporting events since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The Ukrainian Judo Association announced on the 1st that the Ukrainian team withdrew from the world championships to be held in Qatar this month because the International Judo Federation (IJF) released a number of Russian players who were said to be active Russian soldiers. It is that they must compete as neutral individual players.
The Ukrainian Judo Association issued a statement stating: “Most of the athletes in the (Russian) team are active members of the Russian Federation Army, and a part of the Russian Army attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022.”
“I think it is unacceptable to allow soldiers from a terrorist state that kills Ukrainians every day to compete in international competitions,” Daria Bilodid, the 2019 48kg world champion and Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist, said on Instagram.
Other countries, including the Czech Republic and Poland, also criticized the decision to bring Russian athletes back to the event, but decided to take part anyway.
2023-05-05 13:50:02
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